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Conclusion
After reviewing many professional displays here at Tom’s Hardware, we have yet to find a product that doesn’t perform well. The differences between these screens is extremely small and buyers are likely to be satisfied with any one of the dozens of choices in today’s market.
But our job is to nit-pick every possible aspect of color, grayscale and gamma accuracy and even though the PA329Q easily qualifies as a professional tool, there are a few things that we think could be improved.
The fixed Adobe RGB and sRGB modes measure right on target in the gamut and gamma tests; those results are pretty much without fault. But our grayscale tracking charts show a little warmth that shouldn’t be there. It’s minor, but since other monitors come closer to perfection, it’s at least worth pointing out.
Our main beef however is with the PA329Q’s OSD. The marketing touts standard professional features like 6-axis color control and uniformity compensation. But those options aren’t available in all the picture modes. It seems only the Darkroom preset allows a full calibration and there you’ll have to contend with an over-saturated red primary. We don’t mind locked-out adjustments in the factory-calibrated modes but access to the Brightness control would be nice. 170cd/m2 is a good output level in most cases but a monitor in this category should be a little easier to personalize.
We applaud Asus’ inclusion of a calibration application but it is a bit limited in that it only supports i1DisplayPro and Spyder5 meters. It should at least add compatibility for the i1Pro spectrophotometer if users are to realize this monitor’s full potential. And that app is the only way to create DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 color gamuts.
On the positive side, the PA329Q represents a good value as it undercuts the prices of several other 32-inch Ultra HD screens. And it is still in a small minority of panels at that resolution that include a wide-gamut option. We’re also glad to see Asus has bestowed excellent build quality and slick styling here.
As we said at the beginning, it’s nearly impossible to find a bad product in the professional category. Once you enter the realm of factory-certified calibration, you can be assured that a monitor will deliver solid accuracy and the PA329Q certainly qualifies. For those seeking a professional-grade tool, Asus has come through once again.
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